


Astra Inclinant, Sed Non Obligant

by theydiedofterminalstupidity



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Rhys is a dumbass, Secondhand embarrassment, Slow Burn, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:02:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25431307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theydiedofterminalstupidity/pseuds/theydiedofterminalstupidity
Summary: Rhys is starting his sophomore year, and takes on a new class covering the history of Vaults. A new professor is introduced to teach the course, and his name seems to cause trouble wherever it's spoken.Will Rhys heed warnings, or will he fall into the same trap?
Relationships: Handsome Jack/Rhys (Borderlands)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	1. The First Day

**Author's Note:**

> This is entirely self-indulgent, I'm not sorry.
> 
> Tags will be updated as I go, so keep an eye on those!

_Thud._

His head hit the ceiling as he bolted upright in bed, and reached to silence his alarm from his ECHO device. The sound was enough to rip him from sleep and remind him that today was _the day_. He was starting a new class at 9:00AM-- ‘The Mythology of Vaults’. It sounded nice, and there was a new professor there. A few rumors had gone around about him, but Rhys didn’t pay them any mind. Yvette had claimed that this guy was nothing but trouble, and he was fired from his last university for a few reasons. She even forwarded him a link to an article about the teacher, but he dismissed it. Whatever this guy was going to bring, Rhys was ready.

Right, his class. He checked the time on the holo-screen from his palm, and nearly screeched. It was 8:34AM, leaving the sophomore a narrow twenty-six minutes to get ready, not even counting travel time. Scrambling down from the two-rung ladder on his bed, he reached for a pair of black jeans and stepped into them, stumbling as he lunged for the bathroom. Multi-tasking was a thing, right? He could get dressed and brush his teeth at the same time!

It didn’t take him long to figure out how bad of an idea that was. In fact, he found out when he tried tugging a hoodie over his frame, and it got caught on the toothbrush. With a frustrated groan, he pulled the plastic from his mouth and tugged his shirt on, then shoved the brush back to finish.

After a couple more minutes, he was leaving the stuffy dorm, a messenger bag slung over his shoulder, and a bottle of water in his flesh hand. He’d worry about food after his class. He only got to attend this particular course on Wednesdays and Fridays, and this was the first year it had been offered. As soon as he’d heard about it, he arranged to meet with his counselor and sign up for the fall semester. Only a handful of other students had enrolled in the class- which seemed crazy, since Rhys was beyond excited to begin it. He figured more students would jump at the opportunity, but he assumed that the other kids had heard the rumors too.

* * *

He was able to reach his hall with two minutes to spare, only slightly winded from the jogging he had to do to get there. As he expected, there were only twenty or so kids in there. He took his seat in the second row, near the aisle. A few others were at the same level, some below, and a couple here and there in the three rows behind him. This was one of the smallest classes he’d taken; his robotics course had nearly a hundred students. This felt more intimate… Or, it would. Had there been a teacher. Alas, the professor was nowhere to be found.

Rhys took a few more glances around the small room, noticing the girl in the front row with a sleeve, and dyed hair. The guy a few seats down from her was older, and he had his feet kicked onto the desk- something Rhys would normally frown at, but his attention was drawn to the back row. Two girls sat beside each other, chatting quietly, while the rest of the room was silent. One had a set of goggles around her neck- sort of a steampunk look, but Rhys could dig it.

He huffed a little, and turned forward again, continually checking the time as he opened his laptop and prepared to take notes. In a separate tab, he typed in the teacher’s name, his curiosity getting the better of him.

At least seven articles popped up reporting misconduct involvi-

The guy in the front row slid forward and off of his desk. Rhys blinked a few times and closed the browser, tilting his head. It was well after 9:00AM, but he hadn’t anticipated a stir. Maybe the guy was just running late… He shrugged it off and watched carefully as the older male hopped onto the teacher’s desk, snatched up a marker, and kept moving to the whiteboard.

Rhys felt a wave of panic wash over him as the title of the course was scrawled onto the front board, and the man flipped his hood down. It was _definitely_ the professor he’d just looked up moments ago.

With a self-satisfied grin, and a condescending lull to his voice, he eyed the small crowd of students, “‘Sup. Most of you troglodytes look confused, so let me help: My name is Jack Lawrence, but you guys can call me ‘Sir’, ‘Mr. L’, or whatever the hell you want. Just don’t call me ‘Daddy’, I’ll get your ass kicked out.”

The sophomore found himself spluttering, cheeks already red as he focused on his professor’s features, and the words settled in his mind. A sex joke right out of the gate- Rhys should have been appalled, but he was oddly intrigued. His eyes scanned the elder’s face, following a thin silvery scar that traced up one cheek and missed his piercing blue eye, turned at his forehead, and came back down the other side, skipping over his green eye. For once, Rhys didn’t feel so weird about having different colored eyes. It was comforting, in a way.

The professor, however, found it endearing, and he sent a wink Rhys’ way.

Wait- _did he?_ Now Rhys was second-guessing it. Shaking his head, he looked down at his computer screen so they could go over the syllabus. He took notes where they were necessary and logged important dates into his planner, absorbing every word that fell from his lips.

Aside from his cramped hand, the class passed on without much other notice. Originally, Rhys was right-handed, but he forced his body to learn otherwise after the accident. He'd tried to write with his cybernetic, but he just ended up frustrated after the pen would be flung, or an ugly mark would scar the paper. His first assignment was given- vocabulary for the first chapter, due the next class. This was easy, and Rhys planned to hand-write it as soon as he got home.

All thoughts left his mind as he was getting up to leave, sliding his computer into the messenger bag, and someone was calling for his attention.

"Hey- Uh... Kid. C'mere."

_Shit._

Rhys turned around, and the professor was leaning against his desk, arms folded over his chest. The younger took a shaky step out of the line towards the door, and tilted his head a little.

"I-Is something wrong, sir?" This earned a soft chuckle from the other man.

"Wrong? Nah, just wanted to ask you about your hand. What model's that?" Oh, that was... way better than the situations Rhys was imagining. So many things could have gone wrong- he could have misspoken, or upset his teacher by being too loud, or maybe it was the way he walked- "Still with me, princess?" A soft smirk pulled at his lips, and Rhys had hardly noticed that he was staring while he ran through worst-case scenarios in his mind.

"Sorry- Sorry, uh... I-I honestly don't remember.."

"You don't _remember?_ That's some bullshit. Lemme see." Rhys blinked. He couldn't be serious, right? Still, he found himself stepping closer and rolling his sleeve up to his elbow. Bad day to not wear an undershirt.

Mr. Lawrence looked his forearm up and down a couple times and nodded slowly.

"How far up does it go?" This was getting personal already. It was enough to make Rhys furrow his brows, but he didn't pull away.

"All the way. My shoulder, actually.." His gaze turned downwards.

"... Huh. 'S definitely Hyperion..." He got a smug grin on his face, knowing exactly which model it was, but he wouldn't let Rhys know just yet.

"Mhm.. That's about all I know. It happened so long ago. I-Uh... Was that all, sir? I-I'd really like to get started on the vocab." He was bordering on uncomfortable, but that was just because he got nervous around people with power to them, and that was one thing his professor reeked of. That, and some damn near intoxicating cologne, but Rhys couldn’t reveal that.

“... Hey, good on ya, man.. Having a work ethic like that is nothing to scoff at. Get outta here, and I’ll see you on Friday, uh…” He trailed off, trying to prompt a response of the other’s name.

“Rhys. Rhys Strongfork.” Rhys was met with a nod, and he returned it. “So, I’ll.. see you then.”

“I’d hope so. You _do_ plan on attending class, right?”

“I-I, yes, sir. Of course. Sorry, that was… Heh..” He chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head before rolling his sleeve down.

“Yeah, yeah, I gotcha…”

An awkward silence settled between the two, Rhys’ eyes lingering on the elder’s scar for just a second before he cleared his throat and turned on his heel to leave.

“I’ll see you on Friday, professor.” He smiled at him over his shoulder, and left the hall before things could get weirder.

As soon as the door was shut, the teacher found himself pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing a little, mumbling to himself, “Can’t do this shit again… Just one semester.”

Rhys went back to his cramped dorm room, tossed his school bag onto the couch, and went into the kitchen to grab some lunch. No way was he making it through three dozen key terms without some sustenance.

He wound up just boiling some water and tossing a pound of pasta in so he could have leftovers, pouring a glass of water while it cooked. Thinking over his day, he leaned against the counter with his hip and drank from the cup slowly. The syllabus hadn’t seemed too intense, and he was itching to get right into the textbook. And then, of course, there was his professor.

“Tch, Mr. Sex-On-Legs… Wait- no-” He groaned and rubbed his face, his thumb and forefinger pressing into his eyes to try and remove any images of his teacher. Friday seemed so far away, in that moment.

Rhys tried to distract himself while he ate, and did his homework. He could have typed these vocabulary words, but hand-writing them would allow him to remember the words better, and he thought it looked much nicer. By the time he was done, he’d filled several pages with his writing, and his hand was starting to ache once more. It was 3:30 in the afternoon, and that seemed like a perfectly reasonable time to take a nap.

By the time he woke back up, it was dark outside, and his body was covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Rhys groaned at the feeling and rubbed his eyes. This always happened after a nap, especially after one on the couch. He’d slept for nearly four hours, and it took some stretching before he could pull himself up, and walk into the bathroom.

Bracing his hands on the countertop, he looked into the mirror, taking in his appearance and sighing, “Damnit…”

He was already getting a weird kink in his hair, on the side he laid on, and the only way to fix it was with a shower, Which, sounded like far too much work at the moment, but he couldn’t show up to his language and his physiology classes the next day, looking like that. He flicked on the water, and let it heat up, taking off his outfit while he waited.

As soon as the warm water hit his back, an unintentional moan of appreciation was pulled from his throat, and a breathy chuckle soon followed it. He went through the motions, and made sure to get everything clean, only spending a short period of time on grooming himself. It wasn’t like he had any plans. Not that Yvette had made him aware of, anyways.

Once he was clean, he got back out, made quick work of drying himself off, and headed into his bedroom to find his pajamas, that were strewn across the dorm rather gracelessly in his hurry that morning. He knew he’d regret not having anything else to snack on before bed, but his sheets looked so inviting in that moment.

So, he dragged himself up the short ladder, and buried himself right beneath the covers to finally get some rest.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He takes a liking to his teacher, and his teacher takes a liking to him. Or maybe he's like that with all his students. Poor Rhys has no clue either way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to update! I'm gonna try to be more regular with it from here on out.
> 
> This is unbeta-d, so let me know if there's any mistakes!  
> So far things are all from Rhys' point of view, but I'm considering doing a chapter here and there from Jack's. If you guys would like this, please say so! I'm on the fence about it still.

Thursday came and Thursday went, and no work got assigned from his English 101 class, nor from his physiology course, making him sigh in relief while his heart thrummed with the prospect that he’d go back to his class on Vaults. He’d squashed that feeling as soon as he woke up on Friday, cursing to himself for being so eager. Rhys found himself contemplating which pair of jeans to wear, which pair would make his ass look the best, and make his legs look the longest…

It took him some time, but eventually he was headed across campus with his book bag on his cybernetic shoulder, a black and grey flannel over a white shirt, the jacket having worn thin from the years of use that Rhys put into it.

He got there early. _Far_ too early. The door was unlocked, and there was a cup of coffee on Mr. Lawrence’s desk, but the man himself was nowhere to be seen, and Rhys took his seat from the Wednesday before. Once he had his laptop pulled from the sleeve and set it on the desk, the door swung open, and in walked the professor. Rhys muttered a quiet curse, and ducked his head down, keeping his eyes on the screen while he brought up the textbook.

“ _Someone’s_ early.” A deep chuckle resonated around the room, and Rhys almost let out a whine. This wasn’t what he had planned for the day! He was gonna lay low, avoid his teacher, and things would be _fine._

“I-Ah… Yes, sir. I’m sorry..” He wasn’t sure why he was apologizing, but it felt like the right thing to do. A soft frown crossed his features and Mr. Lawrence just started getting out his own materials for the day, shrugging slightly.

“Nothing to be sorry for, kid.” And there it was… The gentle reminder that Rhys was just a student. He sighed shakily, and let the conversation end there when another student came in, and then a few more…

Soon the hall was full of the same faces as the previous time, and the teacher clapped his hands together gently.

“Great! Welcome back. I know you were all dyin’ to see me again. Go ahead and drop those vocab worksheets off up here.” He tapped the edge of a wire basket on his desk, and it didn’t take long for each student to pull out their papers and head down to the front of the room. Rhys found himself meeting Mr. Lawrence’s eyes when he dropped off his homework, and it made him swallow before rushing back to his seat. He tried pushing his thumb and forefinger into his eyelids to get rid of the image of those blue and green eyes, but couldn’t, and he let out a frustrated sigh.

They went on with class, and jumped into the textbook as soon as everyone was settled again. Strangely enough… Rhys seemed to meet his professor’s eyes _any_ time he looked up from his notetaking..

The thought alone made the younger shake his head, and disagree with himself silently, trying to reason that there were other people there, and there was no way that Mr. Lawrence was actually staring him down.

The lesson was brought to a close far too soon for Rhys’ liking, and he groaned internally at the prospect of returning to his stuffy dorm. At least he could get some rest...

“I just want a two-page summary back here by Wednesday, alright? Or you can email me, whatever.” He gestured behind him on the white board where his email address was scribbled down, and Rhys was quick to copy it. As soon as they were dismissed, Rhys was heading out the door with his bag over his shoulder again. He didn’t want to be stopped like last time, and deal with all that anxiety once more.

As soon as the sophomore got home, he slumped into his desk chair, and got to work. No point in procrastinating, right? This wasn’t really any information he needed to remember, so he wound up typing it. He’d only planned on writing five paragraphs or so, but that turned into a full-fleshed report of the chapter. He stopped around three pages in length, and read through it once more. Those blue and brown eyes burned from scanning the document for any mistakes so many times, but he refused to turn something in that was any less than perfect.

By nearly 6:00pm, he was happy with his report and the annotations he’d done, and opened an email to Mr. Lawrence in a new tab. The little woosh that accompanied the message sending brought a breath of relief from Rhys, and he stood up with a stretch before setting about getting some pajamas on. For him, that really just consisted of some loose boxers and a hoodie, but it was better than the jeans he had on before. As soon as he was comfortable, he picked up his laptop and headed into his living room to watch some crappy docuseries online. Rhys flopped on his couch, leaving one leg hanging over the back of it while his head was propped against the arm rest, and he tabbed onto a delivery place near the campus to order some pizza.

With that on its way, he started the show that he was determined to finish this weekend, though he wouldn’t pay attention to most of it. A ping from his computer pulled him from his little trance, and he glanced to the bottom of the screen, where a soft green dot sat atop the letter icon for his email.

“Uh… ‘Kay?” He muttered, admittedly confused as he clicked on it. It redirected him to an incoming email from Mr. Lawrence, of all people, and Rhys could feel his heart stutter. Thankfully, it was praise for his report, and nothing worse. Every alarm in Rhys’ mind had gone off in fear that he would have some scathing review in his inbox from his professor, but instead, all he had was a short message.

“ _Well done, Rhys! This is one of the best reports I’ve read (or written) in years. I’m proud of you, kiddo. Can’t wait to see what else you do over the next two semesters. :) -Mr. Lawrence”_

Rhys gaped like a fish- He’d assume that it was sent to the wrong address, but his name was _right there._ He didn’t feel quite so worthy of the praise. By the time he’d gathered the courage to reply, there was a knock on his dorm door that nearly made him jump out of his skin. Pulling himself up from the couch with a sigh, he got the pizza from the kid at the door, and paid him before going back to his resting place. He was sure to finish that response before picking up any of his greasy pizza, and now he was eagerly waiting for a reply. 

_“Thank you so much, sir. I’m extremely excited to see what this class has to offer, and I’m very grateful for this feedback. -Rhys Strongfork”_

Rhys went back to his show, and started thinking. Mostly about how quickly Mr. Lawrence had gone through his report, but also what that praise could mean. Was someone finally recognizing his talent for writing? Just the idea of it made him all giddy, and a slight flush formed on his cheeks.

Thankfully, no more messages came in to startle Rhys, and he was able to eat in peace. By the time he was done, only half of the box was still full, and he got up to put it in the fridge. It was getting closer to an acceptable time for sleep, so he headed to the bathroom so he could take a shower. He spent longer in there than he had on Wednesday, but he was proud of himself for making it through those first few days of class, and acing that first report.

Once he was back out, and his hair was dry, he got a new pair of pajamas on, and went to check his laptop. As he suspected, there was a notification waiting for it, and he’d be lying if he said his heart didn’t pick up at the idea of talking to him.

_“Anytime, I’m sure I’ll be sending several more of these messages to you after we’ve got more assignments in. I’ll see you on Wednesday, kiddo. -Mr. Lawrence”_

He thought about it for a bit, but a reply didn’t really seem necessary there. And truthfully, it wouldn’t have been very coherent- Rhys was all flustered from that nickname he seemed to have adopted from his professor.

After that, he clambered onto his bunk bed, and snuggled under the sheets. Might as well end the day on a high note, right?

* * *

The next four days were _slow_. Had Rhys been forced to wait any longer to go back to class, he just might have lost his mind. But, good thing he’d gotten that report done early- Vaughn had invited him over on Sunday and Monday for games and dinner each night. He’d never turn down quality bro moments.

So, by the time he got back to Mr. Lawrence’s hall on Wednesday, he was beyond ready. Outfitted in a red, black, and gold Hyperion hoodie, and some leggings (maybe he stole them from Yvette. He’d never admit to it.), he took his same seat in the hall. He was early again, but was careful not to make the same mistake as last time, and only got there with about ten minutes to spare. His professor was already there, and he had glanced up when Rhys entered.

“Early again, Rhysie?” There was a quiet chuckle, and he looked at him over the rim of his glasses. _Glasses?_ Rhys hadn’t noticed those before… He supposed he only wore them when reading.

“Sorry… Just a habit, heh.. I-uh, how’re you doing?” He offered a nervous smile to the older male, and pulled his laptop from his bag. It took everything in him to make sure he wasn’t stuttering.

“Eh… I’ve been better, and I’ve been worse. The day’s lookin’ great, now that you’re here, though.”

“Pardon-?” Mr. Lawrence opened his mouth to provide an answer, but another student entered the room, and he just gave Rhys a small smile. His mind was immediately racing with questions, and his cheeks were dusted with pink once more as he looked down to his keyboard.

The professor took it upon himself to read the chapter today, and Rhys hung onto every word, getting lost in that rich voice of his. He honestly hadn’t even noticed he was staring at the older man with a dazed look on his face, until the teacher was snapping his fingers.

“ _Hey_. Rhys. Sweetcheeks. You still with us?”

“O-Oh! Uhm.. Y-Yes, sir. Very with you. All the way- I mean, uh..” If he wasn’t flushed before, he certainly was now. Another one of those quiet laughs left Mr. Lawrence and his tongue flicked out to wet his lips before disappearing again.

“Test on Friday, over these chapters. Be ready. My tests aren’t easy, so… luck be with you all.” A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips and he glanced over the hall.

After a little more discussion over what sort of questions would be on the test, he dismissed them… All of them, but Rhys. In fact, he specifically asked for the sophomore to stay behind. Once they were alone, and Rhys’ ears were burning red again, Mr. Lawrence leaned against his desk with his hip.

“What’s goin’ on, pumpkin? Rough night? You seemed pretty spacey.”

“Um… Nothing, sir, really. Just… tired, I guess.” Not his best lie, but it seemed to work, since the elder just narrowed his eyes and nodded.

“Alright, whatever. Just know that I’m here for you if you need help with anything. I’m here for you guys, for my students. Send an email my way if there’s anything I can do.”

“Oh, wow, uh.. Thank you, sir. I’ll try not to bug you, though..” He let out a quiet, wry chuckle, and scratched the back of his head with his flesh hand.

“I doubt you could.” There was a damn wink, and Rhys knew it that time, and that blush travelled down his neck to his shoulders. He had to get out of there before he blurted out something stupid like, ‘Wow! You’re gorgeous! Please don’t fail me.’ since that would most definitely be the end of Rhys’ days.

“Alright, well, I’m…” He gestured behind him, towards the door, with his thumb. “Gonna, ah.. Get outta here. Study for Friday an’ all…”

“Yeah, yeah, get out.. You’ll be fine, quit worrying’ about it. Try not to stay up too late on Thursday, hm?” 

“Y-Yes, sir..” Was the last thing he managed before slipping from the hall, which had been empty, but felt so cramped at the same time. Mr. Lawrence just… sucked up all the attention and all the air in a room, and left no space for anyone else. It was suffocating, and Rhys couldn’t get enough of it.

As soon as the door was shut, he let out an audible breath, and tried to calm down. He couldn’t get the image of his professor winking out from behind his eyelids. Hopefully, it’d be gone by the time Friday came around. He didn’t think he could handle that another time…

After he finished studying, which was really just reading through his report and the vocabulary they’d taken, he made himself some dinner and flopped on the couch. Time for Rhys to relax for once.

He went to bed early that night, and sleep was quick to claim him, just as Thursday was quick to arrive and leave all the same. Sleep on Thursday night however, wasn’t quite so easy… It eluded him for hours on end. By the time he was able to drift off, light was pouring into the living room of his down, and he was curled up on the couch with an empty mug of hot cocoa in his hands, and a blanket or two tightly woven around him. He was jolted awake by his alarm just as soon as he’d slipped off into a dream, and he groaned out of frustration. At least he’d spent the night looking over his notes while his brain was throwing a tantrum about something that Rhys couldn’t identify, and it was depriving him of melatonin as a punishment.

Rhys nearly tossed his mug, but he couldn’t- Vaughn gave it to him, and it was easily the biggest coffee mug he’d ever seen. Naturally, it was his favorite. He ended up just setting it on the end table, and getting up, his knees cracking out of protest as he dragged himself into the bathroom.

He looked… mildly less shitty than he thought. Sure, there were dark circles under his eyes, and his hair was sticking up in all the wrong places, but he could fix that with a shower and a cappuccino.

Today was definitely a sweatshirt and joggers day, and that got pulled on right after he finished drying off, and he slipped into the kitchen to make the coffee he so badly needed. At least he had a clean travel mug, so he’d be able to take it into the hall with him.

This time, he wasn’t first to class, but he still caught the attention of Mr. Lawrence, who just grinned despite his no-doubt repulsive appearance. He greeted him, and Rhys just mumbled a response after taking his seat. He sipped at that coffee for several minutes, but he was already zoning out, and couldn’t even bring himself to focus on that voice he enjoyed so much.

Still, Rhys plucked the piece of paper he was given off of his desk as soon as his professor put it there, and the words all blurred together, and he couldn’t make out a single one. The dim lighting in the room wasn’t helping one bit.

Soon enough, his head was down on the desk, and he was _out._

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments if you have any feedback. Thanks!


End file.
